Videodrone Hot Tips and Top Picks: DVDs, Blu-rays and digital debuts for the week of September 27

New Releases:

“Iron Man 3” (Disney/Marvel) hands the franchise reigns over to director / screenwriter Shane Black, who takes Robert Downey Jr. out of the suit for much of the movie and plays with the supervillain threat in ways designed to keep both comic books and franchise newbies on their toes. Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, and DVD, and along with the usual supplements, the Blu-ray editions features another “Marvel One Shot” original live-action short, this one spotlighting Hayley Atwell as “Agent Carter.” Videodrone’s review is here.

The comedy “The Kings of Summer” (Sony) is “a lesson in wish fulfillment, both for the teens it portrays on-screen and the cinematic devotees eager to see a movie about coming-of-age that doesn’t include a stray vampire, werewolf or sulky heroine,” writes MSN film critic Kate Erbland. Blu-ray, DVD, VOD and On Demand. Reviewed on Videodrone here.

“Something in the Air” (IFC, DVD, Netflix Instant), Olivier Assayasa’s quasi-autobiographic​al portrait of youth culture in early-seventies France, is this week’s foreign language pick. “Leviathan” (Cinema Guild, Blu-ray, DVD), an impressionistic portrait of life on a fishing boat, is the non-fiction pick, and “Room 237” (IFC, Blu-ray, DVD), which looks at five unusual readings of Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining,” gets a special mention for movie obsessives.

“No Place on Earth” (Magnolia), a documentary about one of the most unusual World War II survival stories, leads off the True Stories round-up of non-fiction films for September. Also profiled is the wine-culture documentary “Somm” (First Run), the profile “Koch” (Zeitgeist, DVD), and the acclaimed 1989 series “C.G. Jung: The Wisdom of the Dream” (Kultur, DVD), among others.

Most releases are also available as digital download and VOD via iTunes, Amazon, and other web retailers and video services.

“Side Effects” (2013), a medical drama-turned-psychol​ogical thriller with Jude Law and Rooney Mara, is sharp piece of filmmaking from Steven Soderbergh and he’s said it is his last theatrical film. It’s now available on Netflix Instant.

Arriving in advance of theaters is Keanu Reeves’ directorial debut “Man of Tai Chi” and same day as theatrical release is the music documentary “Muscle Shoals.” Available same day as disc: coming-of-age comedy “The Kings of Summer” and old-age comedy “Unfinished Song” with Terrence Stamp and Vanessa Redgrave, and the foreign films “In the House” from France and “Fill the Void” from Israel.